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How e-books can enhance the learning experience

By Adriana Velez, Digital First Media

Updated:
10/11/2013 10:35:08 AM EDT

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Reading books electronically may be novel for us adults, but for our digital-native kids, e-books are a foregone conclusion. Nearly half of all kids between the age of 6 and 17 have read at least one, according to a report from Scholastic. And half of kids 9 to 17 say they'd read for fun more often if they had more access to them.

The advantages of e-books for kids are fairly obvious: They're extremely portable, easy to keep track of and easy to travel with. All you need is your device and an app. Many kids' e-books are simply an electronic version of their favorite titles, but many publishers are harnessing technology to expand the possibilities of storytelling.

A growing array of e-books enhance the text of children's books with simple, interactive games built into the illustrations. A story about hide-and-seek, for example, allows you to move images around the touchscreen to find a hiding character.

If your child has a favorite picture book, it's very likely that there's an e-book version of it with some extra digital bells and whistles. Most are little more than the combination of a story book and a few simple video games. But there are some delightful exceptions, like electronic activity book “Pirate Scribblebeard's Adventure," in which kids can color illustrations that then become animated before their eyes.

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Bridging Books are sets comprised of a printed book and digital device with content synchronized via magnets embedded in the printed book. As the child turns pages, the tablet expands the illustrations with corresponding interactive images and sounds. Readers can touch the screen to play with illustration patterns, set off sounds or even play simple games. Bridging Books aren't on the market yet, but hopefully they'll be available for purchase soon.

There are plenty of entertaining options for preschoolers and kindergarten-aged children, but what about older kids who are at or near reading fluency?

The forthcoming e-book, “Alicewinks” (Walrus & Carpenter Productions: Kindle Fire, iPad, Android; $9.99), is an animated version of Lewis Carroll's classic, “Alice in Wonderland.” Through portrait-oriented video, Carroll's 1865 unabridged text is narrated with character voices. Original illustrations from 12 different early 20th century artists are seamlessly animated. As a result, Alice, a character who grows and shrinkis in the story, literally transforms before the reader's eyes. What does it mean to a child to see so many different kinds of visual representations of the same character? I think this is one way an e-book can capitalize on the digital format so that it enhances the reading experience for kids. In addition to the animated video, the e-book comes with the original 1865 text and a library of the images used in the video. Kids can explore both to enhance their experience with the story.

Scholastic has a growing library of educational e-books, like “The Magic School Bus” series, which is enhanced with a reading quiz. But many publishers expand the interactivity much further than that. For example, look at the “Meet the Insects” series. They are almost more app than book. Instead of just an electronic replication of book pages, readers use the touchscreen to explore a visual environment that opens up with text boxes, photographs and video.

The e-book version of “Yellow Submarine” immerses readers into the story with video and audio clips; of course, the book is based on a film, which in turn is based on music by The Beatles. But that's all the more reason for the e-book version to be so rich in interactive possibilities.

You can discover and learn more about interactive titles for children on the website, Best Interactive e-books. There's a section for early readers and another for young adults, which in this case this means elementary-aged readers and older.

Reading books electronically could be just the bridge to lure resistant readers. With e-books for just about every interest, age and reading level, there really is something for everyone. But one thing is for certain, the way e-books are rapidly evolving, the reading experience will mean something utterly different for the next generation.